Widescreen Puzzler

matt24671 wrote on 5/30/2006, 1:36 PM
Hello Folks,

I'm not getting, conceptually, how to use footage shot 4:3 in a widescreen project. (I want the footage to appear uncropped top and bottom, with black on both sides.)

I understand that there's a 'flag' in the datastream of 16x9 footage that tells the TV 'stretch the pixels,' since widescreen footage has rectangular pixels, and the normal footage, square ones. If I want footage shot 4:3 to appear normal in a widescrren project, it seems to me I would have to render it to be compressed horizontally, and then when placed in the widescreen project it would appear normal and not stretched. But I don't get how to do that, and perhaps think I'm perhaps missing a piece of this puzzle.

Any help from you video pros would be appreciated!

Comments

Chienworks wrote on 5/30/2006, 1:48 PM
Have you tried creating a 16:9 project and dropping the 4:3 footage onto the timeline? Seems like that will accomplish exactly what you describe you want. It sounds to me like you're trying to make it a whole lot more complex than necessary.
Paul_Holmes wrote on 5/30/2006, 2:32 PM
Like Kelly says bring your footage (4X3 avi, 4X3 nested veg, whatever) into a 4X3 project, then click on Event Pan/Crop, uncheck "Lock Aspect Ratio,", then set Width to 720 and Height to 360.

Then you can set keyframes to move the box up or down vertically to best frame the subject matter over time.

Finally, render the movie as a 16X9 project.

Edit: Whoops, sorry. AFter reading FARSS reply I see you want your footage to remain looking 4X3 within a widescreen project. My instructions were on how to convert 4X3 into 16X9.
farss wrote on 5/30/2006, 2:48 PM
Neither 4:3 or 16:9 uses square pixel, the 16:9 ones are just stretched more than the 4:3.
T solve your problem though just open a 16:9 project and drop the 4:3 footage into that. If you don't see the black bars on the sides R Click the media and make certain the aspect ratio is set to 4:3. I've never found 4:3 to be flagged incorrectly, 16:9 is wrong about 50% of the time.
To view your project correctly make certain you have Simulate Aspect Ratio ticked on the preview monitor.

Bob.